The present invention relates to an automatically fastening seatbelt assembly which causes an occupant of a vehicle to be automatically held to a seat in the vehicle by a restraining webbing, after the occupant is positioned on the seat in the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,489 discloses a seatbelt assembly which includes a guide rail, a slider which is displaceable along the guide rail and a restraining webbing which is fixed to the slider at one end thereof. The guide rail includes a longitudinal guide groove therein and the guide rail is fixed on a roof side member of a vehicle. The slider is received in the guide groove and is displaceable along the guide rail. The guide rail is provided with a forward stop switch provided at a forward portion of the guide rail and rearward stop switch provided at a rearward portion of the guide rail. The forward and rearward stop switches are connected to a source of electricity or an electric control circuit by connecting wires. Accordingly, the stop switches detect the arrival of the slider at either end of the guide rail and output signals to the electric control circuit.
Further, the guide rail includes an anchor pin which is secured to a rear bottom end of the guide rail. When the slider, which is connected to one end of the restraining webbing through an anchor plate, is positioned at the rear bottom end of the guide rail the anchor pin prevents the slider from being removed from the guide rail.
Accordingly, when the slider is positioned at an adequate anchor position, the occupant is securely held to the seat in the vehicle by the restraining webbing.
However, an adequate anchor position of the slider depends on the size of the occupant. That is when a vehicle occupant is short an adequate anchor position of the slider may be lower than the adequate anchor position of the slider for a tall occupant. However, the anchor pin of the slider in the known art cannot be adjusted upwardly or downwardly along the guide rail.